Maggie L. Walker Governor’s school has a long way to go in terms of diversifying the student body, but that does not mean we have not made progress. “I expected to see fewer people of color than what I did when I came here,” said freshman Shakylia Jones. As a part of the most diverse class MLWGS has ever seen, Shakylia emphasized the progress the school has made; this year’s freshman class has almost as many African American and Hispanic students as the current sophomore, junior, and senior classes combined. 

“I applaud the significant strides made in the past year, particularly after Dr. Lisa Williams became an administrator,” said Ms. Cross, one of Maggie Walker’s Global Studies 9 and 10 teachers. She explained the necessity of students, faculty, and staff feeling safe and comfortable in this environment. Cross was pleased by the fact that, at this moment, more African-American students were using their voices to speak up about their experiences at MLWGS. Even though diversity at Maggie Walker is slowly improving, and in fact not even close to finished, our progress could possibly be affected with the introduction of House Bill 127. 

House Bill 127 was heard in Virginia’s General Assembly on the morning of January 25th. According to the bill, “No academic year Governor's School or governing board member, director, administrator, or employee thereof shall: seek information on students' race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin during the application process for admission.” The bill, introduced by Delegate Glenn R. Davis, is said to prevent “proxy discrimination” within Virginia’s governors schools. 

At first glance, the bill seems as though it would solve problems regarding the diversity issue in governor’s schools, especially when it states the need to solve proxy discrimination.  In the bill, proxy discrimination has been defined as “the use of a facially neutral factor in student admissions that correlates with race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin for the purpose of discriminating against or granting a preference to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.” When questioned about this bill, Christopher Moore (‘25)  stated, “I liked how they got rid of what color the person is when you apply because it takes away the questioning if you were accepted based on race.” He voiced the opinion that some other students at Maggie Walker shared as well.

Delegate Glenn Davis felt as though student applicants are actively being denied spots at the governor’s schools due to their race. This means, though, that schools would not be able to consider quotas for certain groups or geographic factors; thus, rather than solving issues in discrimination as the bill aims to do, it seems to raise further concerns for many individuals. 

As the bill was heard, the ARA (Antiracist Alumni Group of MLWGS) decided they needed to speak up. There were concerns that House Bill 127 would interfere with the local and regional school boards in the process of developing a more equitable admissions process. They recognized the bill’s broad use of the word “discrimination” and called out the outdated admission standards. In spite of all their work to fight against this, the bill was ultimately passed through the House. As the bill travels to the Senate, administrators, students, and faculty of the governor’s schools are interested to see if it passes. Due to the bill’s wording, however, administrators here at Maggie L. Walker have little concern that this bill will affect our school since admissions occur at the county level. 

Since the students selected to attend this school are chosen by the certain districts, the bill primarily seems to refer to Thomas Jefferson governor's school in Fairfax, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is a school governed under one singular district: Fairfax County. This means that the wording of the bill would actually affect TJHSST because of its connection between school board members and one singular county. Even despite the low possibility of the bill affecting Maggie Walker, its potential harm is hard to ignore.  

House Bill 127 was introduced to decrease discrimination in these governor’s school but could potentially have the opposite affect. “I’m not really for or against the bill,” said Alexis Bartee (‘22). “It is a very complex situation and I can understand both viewpoints.” Bartee mentioned that she understands that students may question their acceptance based on their race, but also sees how the bill could harmfully affect efforts to improve diversity. Particularly, the concerns that have arisen have to do with affirmative action. As mentioned prior, the bill would negate any quotas or caps implemented to ensure certain groups are being represented. 

When asked about diversity at Maggie Walker, Kori Benjamin (‘23) said, “I think a lot of it has to do with the middle schools because the middle schools we pull from have to buy their seats.” Kori shared the thought that if the middle schools Maggie Walker pulls from are not diverse then the school will have trouble diversifying on its own. One way to solve this problem would be to make sure students of color have the resources available to them, so they are aware that they have the opportunity to attend MLWGS. 

There are so many gifted students who apply to Maggie L. Walker, and are not awarded the opportunity to attend this school. While House Bill 127 takes away the belief that an applicant’s acceptance was based on race, it also could cause a disproportionate representation of certain race groups within the schools. Without looking at race or ethnicity, affirmative action could be threatened and levels of representation within the school could lower. 

While it is true that proxy discrimination exists and is very much a problem, the issue of underrepresentation is also a problem that seems to be more prevalent in our community. Race-based questions on applications raise the question of an inherent necessity for these questions to ensure the student body is an accurate representation of our society: filled with individuals of all racial backgrounds and identities.

“To pass a bill like that would be a disservice to the spirit of excellence that is supposed to permeate through schools of this caliber,” said Cross. She felt that the bill would make it easier for students of color to be excluded. There would be no way for the districts to see how many students of colors or ethnicities gained entry into the governor's schools. 

Maggie L. Walker’s school director, Dr. Lowerre stated, “I really don’t think this bill will affect us.” He explained that the bill has not come up on the school board’s agenda for a reason– he does not think it will progress any further, his reasoning being that the wording in the bill was mainly directed towards the admissions system at Thomas Jefferson Governor's School; Maggie Walker’s admissions are primarily made at the county level. He did however acknowledge the possibility of the bill inflicting damage on the rights of the local school board. “Our school board should be able to decide what is best for Maggie Walker,” Dr. Lowerre felt that the bill was trying to take authority away from the local school boards.  

What sets Maggie Walker apart from the other Virginian governor’s schools is that the administrators do not select students for the academic school year. MLWGS is made up of fourteen different districts, and each district selects kids to attend the school. Even though Maggie L. Walker may not be directly affected by House Bill 127 due to the different admissions process, Dr. Williams, assistant director of MLWGS, said, “We hope this doesn’t hinder or halt strides for diversity, equity, and inclusion in any way.” She explained the partnerships Maggie Walker was trying to build with the districts, and her hopes that each district is carefully considering the representation of students they send to MLWGS. “We’ve made some real strides in diversity, and we don’t want to let anything stop that,” she said. 

Mr. Max Smith, assistant director, was in agreement with Dr. Lowerre in the sense that he believed House Bill 127 was not aimed at Maggie Walker.  He talked about how the bill was concerned with making Thomas Jefferson’s admissions process as “race-blind” as possible. “I’m not overly concerned about House Bill 127. My interpretation, looking at the language of it, is that it’s actually directed towards Thomas Jefferson [Governor’s] School.” He expressed concern for Thomas Jefferson since the school does its own admissions process, understanding that some parts of House Bill 127 were directly trying to roll back the school’s progressions in diversity. Mr. Smith expressed his interest in tracking the bill, and seeing if it progresses through the senate. If it were to pass through the senate, although unlikely according to some, he would be interested to see its reaction.

House Bill 127 may not impact MLWGS as drastically as Thomas Jefferson Governor's School, but Maggie Walker must hope it stays that way. As tensions escalate, new bills could be written constantly. The goal is to ensure that this school has a substantial amount of diversity so that bills such as House Bill 127 barely diminish the levels of representation. 

While members of the governor’s schools await the second hearing of the bill, Cross mentioned some ways that diversity at MLWGS can currently be acknowledged. She explained the importance of active listening and cultural humility in the path to improve diversity. “Diversity means we know there are people from different backgrounds. That is not enough,” stated Cross. Improving diversity is absolutely necessary within our governor’s school so that our institution represents an accurate picture of the districts surrounding it; while it is debatable whether or not House Bill 127 may affect that, we must remain steadfast in our improvements to diversity and inclusion.